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Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico
Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico is the second episode of the second season of Monk. Plot While on spring break vacation in Mexico, Chip Rosatti, the son of a prominent San Francisco businessman (a businessman who also happens to be a close friend of the mayor), wins a free skydiving jump. Watching from the ground, two of his friends gaze up in horror as Chip leaps from the plane but fails to open his chute and plummets to his death. When Chip's body is examined at the morgue, local coroner Dr. Madero discovers some perplexing news: Chip Rosatti didn't die from hitting the ground - rather, he drowned in mid-air. A call from the Mayor of San Francisco sends Monk to the Mexican vacation spot in order to figure out just what happened during that fall. Prepared with 18 suitcases filled with everything from backup pillowcases to pre-packaged food and water, Monk and Sharona arrive in San Marcos, Mexico, and are greeted by Hispanic counterparts of Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher. The Mexican police insist Chip's death was drug related, but Monk isn't convinced. When he asks if there have been any other bizarre deaths, they mention a kid who was mauled a year before by a wild lion - of which there are none in Mexico. After a visit to the medical examiner's office, Monk questions the two friends who watched Chip's jump, and both swear he was alive when he leapt from the plane. Monk listens to their story, but has trouble concentrating on their testimony: just moments after his arrival, all of his suitcases were stolen from in front of the hotel - and along with them, Monk's entire food and water supply. A creature of habit, he can't bring himself to drink any other brand of bottled water than the one he had brought with him, and as a result, he begins to suffer from dehydration. To further complicate matters, he is nearly run down by a speeding truck in an alleyway. Monk and Sharona talk next with the pilot of Chip Rossati's plane. He also claims Chip was alive when he jumped, and further explains that the free jump certificate that Chip won turned out to be a forgery. In addition, he reveals that Chip's parachute had been tampered with, and that it could have easily been accessed by anyone. Digging deeper, Monk discovers a key to a bus station locker that Chip was renting. As he makes his way to the bus station, a mysterious driver takes aim at a Monk from the back, and runs him down. The next day, Sharona stumbles into their room after spending the night at a frat party, and the Mexican detectives regretfully inform her that Monk is dead. They also telephone Stottlemeyer in San Francisco, who is devastated. The cheif detective tries to comfort Sherona by telling her how Monk bravely dragged himself through, dirt and garbage looking for help. Then Sherona realizes that its not really Monk, as she knows that he would rather die then crawl through garbage. Just then he stumbles into the hotel, more dehydrated than ever, but very much alive . In a touch of poetic justice, the dead man turns out to be the suitcase thief, who was wearing some of Monk's clothes. Meanwhile Stottlemeyer, is arranging Monk's funerial demanding that he be buried with honors even though he wasn't on active duty. Just as the Captain admits to Lt. Disher that he loved Monk, he recievs a phone call that says he is alive. He then yells "I HATE THAT MAN", as he must now cancel all of the arrangments he just made. That night, someone plants a bomb behind a painting in Monk and Sherona's hotel room, deliberately askew so that it will detonate when Monk adjusts it. But Monk notices that the painting was tilted the other way before, and notices the bomb. The Mexican detectives are convinced that someone is trying to kill Monk. Captain Alameda suspects the owner of Chip Rosatti's hotel arranged the parachute accident to cover Rosatti's accidental drowning inside the resort. Monk isn't convinced. Then Alameda's lieutenant mentions that the other dead student, the lion victim, was also a rich kid from San Francisco. With that, Monk solves the case. Here's What Happened Monk smelled menthol cream on the curtains in his hotel room - the same kind used by the seemingly innocent police coroner, Dr. Madero. He is so excited that he tells Sharona to pack their things immediately, and gives his summation as they are checking out: Madero is in fact a fugitive doctor named Luis Nivara; he lost his practice, and his wife to suicide, after Monk testified against him in an insurance scam case. Madero made his way to Mexico, then tried to think of a way to lure Monk to Mexico to kill him in revenge. He committed two murders, both with seemingly "impossible" causes, both of kids from San Francisco whose families were rich and well-connected. Chip Rosatti died when his parachute didn't open, because Madero cut the ripcord. After the body was brought to the morgue, Madero poured water into Rosatti's lungs, to mimic a death by drowning. The only reason the lion attack didn't draw Monk to Mexico was that, at the time, no one thought to call him. Madero is brought to the hotel and confronted. He says there is no proof, but Alameda remembers that they found a fingerprint on Rosatti's parachute harness that they couldn't match, which Alameda bets is Madero's. Exposed, Madero goes berserk and lunges at Monk, before he is restrained. Alameda, now in open awe of Monk's abilities, marvels that he figured all this out just from the menthol cream on the curtains. Monk confides that his first real clue came days earlier: when they visited the morgue, Madero mentioned finding "a pint" of water in each of Rosatti's lungs, when a pint (as opposed to a liter) is a unit of measure used in the U.S., meaning Madero must have spent time there before. Monk and Sharona return to San Francisco. In his apartment, Monk is pleased to find that 5,400 bottles of Sierra Springs that he ordered have been delivered. But when Sharona mentions she is thirsty, Monk is hesitant to share even one bottle with her. In his mail, Monk reads a letter confirming that Madero/Nivara has been extradited back to the U.S. to stand trial, and remarks how crazy it is that someone who he never met would want him dead. He waits for Sharona to agree, but she just stares daggers at him. Background Information and Notes *While nobody in San Macros had Sierra Springs everyone in town had Perrier *The episode was co-written by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin. Several of Goldberg's Monk mystery novels feature a trope similar to the one from this episode: that every police force in every other country has a duo like Stottlemeyer and Disher. 2.02